We had our national
qualifier a couple of weekends ago.
As we have done for
the last two years, our format was IMCF ruleset, singles fights. This
year, we added one more event: women’s 2v2 buhurt.
Since I seem to be
the only crazy polearm fighter (“Would you like to suck my plums?”)
there was only one polearm fight scheduled, and that was because
Bronwen stood up and said she’d give me an opponent. I was pleased
and quite proud of my friend and teammate for making that gesture,
although we ended up not having the bout because of time constraints.
For the last two
qualifiers, I have only had one female fighter to face each time.
This year was different. The women turned out en masse. We had five
female competitors, and where there has in the past been five or more
male competitors, there were only three this year. For the first
time, the women outnumbered the men. I’m not going to say I was
proud because the notion that there is some kind of competition
between men and women in any given sport is ridiculous, and to me, we
are all still fighters. If it were up to me, we wouldn’t separate
the men and women. Having said that, I was impressed that the numbers
of armoured female fighters in our sport in South Africa had jumped
so quickly, and gratified because two of those women who competed
were my recruits.
Our men’s team
captain, Hylton, was disappointed in the turnout, but I think it’s
a sign of progress of a sort, within our organisation. I think it
shows a change in the way that qualifiers is viewed. Before, we had a
bunch of fighters, some of whom competed with borrowed kit, without
authentic shoes, and on the understanding that they could not
actually commit to going over to IMCF.
This year, we had
less fighters, but they were all in their own, authentic kit, and
they all are able to commit to going overseas. Those who were unable
to make the commitment did not compete, and I think that is the way
it aught to be.
We had two round
robins of sword and shield, and I was particularly impressed with
Steph’s fighting, since she has only in the last month rejoined
steel combat, after protracted health issues. She is, in my opinion,
an excellent swordsman and has the determination to see herself
through a tournament, which is essential. She also makes a bloody
good buhurt fighter.
On the whole, the
standard of fighting amongst the men and the women has improved, and
I was glad for a bit more time in the lists than the usual two
fights, and a bit more of a challenge from my opponents.
Reading that last
bit, I think it sounds a little pompous and condescending, and I
didn’t say it in that spirit, but there was no other way I could
find that was more humble. Yes, I won all of my fights, and who
doesn’t enjoy the win? Instead of winning in two rounds each fight,
though, some went to three, and my fight with Steph in sword and
shield went to four rounds, which has not happened before.
Everyone swore they
fought much worse than usual, and I could see that Bronwen wasn’t
on form the way she can be, but that is part of dealing with the
stress under competition pressure, and we must all learn to manage it
in our own way. That comes with time and experience.
I can’t comment on
anyone else’s individual performance, but for myself, I found that
the warmup and stretching beforehand made a big difference. I also
found that my first few fights were crap because I wasn’t “in the
zone”, whereas my longsword fights after lunch were much better,
and I felt like I had given myself a better chance.
Of course, neither
the sword and shield nor the longsword are my chosen weapons, but
I’ve trained in them because I believe that a competent swordsman
should be proficient in the most common weapon forms (sword and
shield, longsword, spear/quarterstaff, polearm and rapier, at least).
*Disclaimer*: That’s
my belief based on my own opinions and what I think are the common
basic weapon forms, so please don’t take it as any kind of expert
or academic evidence. Just what I do. You don’t have to do it.
So I found that
through the day, I didn’t get more tired and more useless. I found
that I actually improved, and it was easier to move and fight in my
armour, as the day progressed, which was wonderful. I had one small
trouble with my greaves slipping down and digging into the tops of my
instep. That was because I’ve been gymming and the shape of my
calves has changed ever so slightly. So Josh had to open them up to
give some more room, which then resulted in them slipping a bit. Once
he had fixed it, though, I was good to go.
The longsword fights
were savage. The guys hammered each other, and I really enjoyed my
fights against Eurika, Vicky and Bronwen. At that point I was in my
happy fighting place and ready to deal brutality to everyone.
When the clouds
began to thicken up and crowd in, blue and grey and swollen, we
decided to get on with the buhurt before the rain (and lightning)
came. It was a 2v2, Durban versus Joburg. I had no idea what to
expect, and I knew that the Joburg girls had been coached a bit.
Bronwen and I had a quick strategy discussion, and then the marshall
began the bout.
We each got a
dancing partner pretty quickly. Bron got Steph. Those two are quite
evenly matched, although Steph is taller. Bron is stubborn and just
won’t go down easily. I tried to take Vicky down, and even though I
am much taller than she, it just didn’t happen. Every move I tried
in my admittedly limited repertoire failed. Then, Steph came in to
help her, and someone stood on my shoe and having nowhere else to go
but sideways and down, that’s what I did.
I’m not ashamed to
say I felt pretty damned useless.
Bron went down after
me in spectacular style. When that chick falls, you know it’s going
to be worth watching. This time, her helm caught the edge of a very
low cinderblock wall at the edge of the list, and everyone caught
their breath. If she had not been wearing a helmet, that would have
been fatal. But it wasn’t. Bron got up (“I’m okay!”), I put
my shoe back on and got up, and we prepared for the second round.
The second round was
much longer than the first. Bron and I had learned fast, and the four
of us fought furiously for a bit and then stepped back into the four
corners and took a bit of a breather. Not the kind of thing you
normally see in the YouTube videos. After a few seconds, we got the
fighting started again, and then I was disarmed. Unfortunately, one
of our marshalls, who is not a buhurt fighter, called a halt,
believing my disarm to be cause to suspend the round while I got
another weapon. I didn’t hear the call at the time, though.
I put my hands up
and prepared to walk to where I could find another weapon, and
Bronwen, who is always safety conscious, stopped fighting and looked
for the cause of the instruction to halt. Of course, at the same
time, another person called, “keep fighting” and Bronwen got
mashed into the corner of the list.
It was a series of
unintentional cock-ups that resulted in Bronwen nearly losing her
shit. She was so angry, and I guess it was justified because from her
point of view, she had obeyed the halt command, which we do without
question, for the sake of safety, and been unfairly taken down. The
Joburg girls didn’t realise that Bron had stopped fighting, because
everything happened so quickly, and when they saw how things had
occurred, they were really apologetic. Nothing was done intentionally
or out of bad sportsmanship. But the rain was coming, Bron was really
pissed off – her sense of fairplay had been wronged, and I had
somehow managed to twist my arm the wrong way and my elbow was
whining at me from the background. So I took a knee and ended the
bout.
I know some of you
might say I should have fought on, pushed for a restart of the round,
and I think we would have been able to, but sometimes, you have to
think longterm. I didn’t want to damage my elbow properly and risk
not being able to compete at full capacity in IMCF.
I also wanted to
keep it tidy. They were clearly the better buhurt team on that day,
and to prolong a result that was already clear didn’t seem
sportsmanlike or fair to anyone else. One should always lead by
example and give credit where it is deserving, I believe.
So that was that.
Fighting was done, and then we headed home to feed the horses and
dogs and cats, and then we went back to the AGM and all of the
politics. But I won’t bore you with that.
On the whole, it was
a good day, and I am really very pleased to see that my own goal for
our sport, which I held in my mind since I returned from IMCF 2015,
has been realised: South Africa will be sending a women’s buhurt
team to IMCF this year.
Whatever happens
next, I’m ready.
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| From left: Me, Bronwen Huysamer, Vicky Kleynhans and Stephanie Roets |
